Texas Cases To Watch In 2019

Law360 reporter Michelle Casady recently spoke to Jeff Vaden as part of her look into the biggest Texas cases to watch in 2019. One case sure to make legal waves in 2019 is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton waiting out a potential trial on securities fraud charges.

“Most people who maintain they haven’t done anything wrong and are innocent want their day in court,” Vaden told Casady. “At some point, I have to believe he wants to get this behind him and get this over with.”

The case would proceed in Harris County District Court if Paxton does face trial, which has been stayed since October 2017 while awaiting a Court of Criminal Appeals’ ruling.

Vaden added that a local cap on fees paid to specially appointed lawyers could also make it difficult to get qualified criminal defense attorneys to agree to take on special prosecution roles like this in the future.

“It’s going to make qualified criminal defense attorneys very reluctant to sign on and do something like that for fear they won’t get paid even a remotely reasonable fee,” he said. “It could have quite the chilling effect.”